Last Update from Mexico

We've got some good stories.. But it's really late and we're still not done getting ready. I'm giving my back a break from hunching over those tables and posting some pictures. You can imagine the stories that go with these - feel free to confirm them with us when we return!





We're coming back home tomorrow... It's kind of surreal for me right now.. They say it takes 28 days to establish a habit - I really hope I won't have a compulsive urge to climb mountains or store tiny fruits in baggies when we get back. (to be honest, i think i'll be just fine on that front)...

Anyway, customs went REALLY well.. We've been taking all of the ethanol out of the vials tonight, a job that has proven to be an extraordinarily tedious and sore-making job.

Location Update

Fig trackers report safe at 3:30 PM CDT.


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The nicest room we've had..

Our Santa Rosalia Casita - it was reasonably priced and otherwise awesome.

Oh, the places we've been!

Wow, I guess it's been a few days since we've updated! We have a few new stories, but things have been essentially go go go since last week. We've got five sites in the bag (providing we get ten more fruits processed, and I don't think that's going to be a problem), and we're racing to get a sixth. So without further ado, here are some of the situations we've gotten ourselves into!

Back to the salt mines...

Hey guys! Well, we've worked out a new processing system in which Brad searches for foundresses and then I peel the seeds off of the fruit in addition to my other jobs. It's actually working MUCH faster!

Anyway, we're going back to site 172 today (second to North-est) to see if one of the trees we checked out is out of interphase and into male phase. We've given it a week or so, so it's looking good.

There are fewer wasps up here, for the most part. The definitely-male-phased fruits have had thicker skins from the more northern sites. That should be interesting if the trend continues in the fruits we gather today.


Wish us luck!

Rocky Road!

Here are a couple videos to show you how amazing the road to 158 is!

Quick Update!

Hey guys! We're in Guerrero Negro again, processing. We went pretty far North for a few days, as indicated by Reed's lovely last update... We spent the night in the 4-runner, which proved to be much less comfortable than previously supposed. Here are some pictures, though!






The Terrain wasn't exactly easy to cross. Both driving and walking have been tricky!

Here's the best picture I could take of an ovipositor. They're teeny little things, yeah? When we started, I was afraid to open up the male-phased fruits (the fruits with all the buggies inside), but I've warmed up to it, and it's actually really neat now!

Here is a bit of site 158, the northernmost site we're planning on visiting.. It's really warm and bouldery.. not very full of life, but there were a lot of fig trees there! It was tough! Lots of climbing and REALLY warm... but there were some nice cows to keep us company.

The trees weren't terribly sparse, but there were a lot of small trees that weren't fruiting, a lot of trees that were in female phase (very much not ready for plucking) or interphase (almost but not quite ready for plucking)... Unfortunately, we only really found two trees that were in female phase, including this one. Those are what we're processing now.

Here's a picture of the site from afar, taken from where we spent the night. Yes, we hiked to the top of that massive thing. I know!

Oh! Hey, guys, by the way. You know how this thing to my right looks maybe kind of soft and friendly? Like an anemic cat, almost? YEAH, IT'S NOT. The dag nam thing puts prickly horrible things all over you! I got a few on my legs, Brad got one on his hand, and they're... They're just awful!

So leave them alone if you see them. Unless you have a very small explosive device.

It really is a beautiful place, but we were really looking forward to getting back to Guerrero, the land of running water and markets!






We're still having a great time. Finding good data is a very uplifting experience! Now we're taking a few days to process the fruits that we found, hoping that we can get at least 80 useable fruits (not all the fruits we have are in the perfect phase, and for whatever reason, the skins on the figs are REALLY thick.) and then we're off on another adventure! I think we're taking another stop at 172 (the more southern site on the north side of Baja) and then maybe getting another site, if we have time... That would make six useable sites, which would be the most ideal situation! We'll try to keep in touch.

Location Update

Fig Trackers report safe at 10:05 AM CDT.


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Location Update

Fig trackers report safe at 3:20 PM CDT.


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Two videos

I wanted to add a couple videos in addition to the pictures from the previous post. These two videos show the view from our microscope of a pollinating foundress. We were taking measurements of female-phase fruits (as opposed to male-phase fruits, which we've spent the majority of our time collecting). Fruits are in female-phase when new foundress pollinators arrive and start to oviposit into the ovules within the syconia. Usually we open these syconia up, and the foundresses are dead. But in a few of the syconia we opened earlier, the foundresses awoke and started doing their thing. It's quite amazing; their bodies are torn apart after squeezing through the ostiole (a small hole) of the syconia. Despite this, they continue to actively pollinate and oviposit. I had never seen this behavior in action before. The small yellow ovipositor is actually pulled down from the black sheath during oviposition. You can almost see it hanging down from her abdomen in the first video.

Pictures from up North

We're currently in Guerrero Negro and processing fig syconia. I hope to have a bit more time to update later, but here are some pictures from the past few days with captions.

We ran into many goats on the way up to the last site.


There were about a dozen burros on the road up as well.

Some of the goats don't do so well up here.

Amanda seemed to enjoy the hike.

Most of the flora from the northern sites look like something from a Dr. Suess book.



We were quite high up.


And the sun was pretty nasty.

But view was very nice.

Of course, sampling was limited to the branches on which Amanda would allow me to climb. All of those below are fig roots.


We currently have spotty Internet access, but we're doing well on the Pacific side of the peninsula. We should have one more day of processing before heading to the next site; we'll make a day trip a couple hours north, then head back.

Location Update

Fig trackers report safe at 12:45 PM CDT.


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Paintings thusfar

Well, we've seen the "science" section, but I've been neglecting to post the couple paintings I did while in Baja! I've only got two now (we've been SO busy!)... Here they are!

Here's a 1 1/2 hour study of the view off of a bench on a seaside street in Loreto.

The sunset off of a terrace in our hotel complex... It's a bunch of houses - I'll definitely get pictures of this place before before we go! I wish I could have gotten the layers of the mountains a bit more clear - they're SO awesome.. The atmosphere was so colorful!

Anyway, we're off to site 112, and if we have time, 113. Lots of hiking today, it seems, but it's going to be through a wash, which should make it a little easier to get through. :)


Hooray! I hope I can paint again either today or tomorrow.

Update with Pictures!

It gets awfully pretty around the water, especially after you've seen nothing but rocks and sand for days.

 

We didn't find any figs at site 155, but we did find 5 previously unmarked fig trees, and we also had an opportunity to try out our fancy new walkies. It's been a little flustering the past few days, looking for hours to find trees only to find that they either don't have fruit or are strictly guarded by rather vicious-looking dogs... 

                                                                                  Brad has a zen-like focus when he's processing. I love the way he furrows his brow like that..

More captions to come if we get free time!

Alive and Well

We've been having a great time! We're going to Mulejé tonight, and if we have internet, I'll empty out my camera and post some pictures! :)

It's been going alright, although our endeavors on the third site have been fruitless thusfar. Heh... fruitless...

We've got backup plans that we're going to today. Cross your fingers for us!

Location Update

Fig trackers report safe at 4:10 PM CDT.


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Location Update

Fig trackers report safe at 12:40 PM CDT.


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More pictures..

Hey guys - not sure when we're going to have internet next (maybe tonight, maybe a week or two from now...) Here are some pictures in the meantime.